(Sometimes called conceptual, content, developmental, substantive or story editing and editorial or manuscript appraisal/assessment/critique.)

I will read your manuscript and write a comprehensive feedback report detailing ways to improve it as a whole. I will analyse macro-level elements, such as:

• characterisation
• genre
• length and level
• narrative style
• organisation and structure
• plot and pacing
• tense
• theme
• viewpoint
• voice and tone
• worldbuilding
• writing craft

I will also comment directly in the manuscript to highlight areas that need work precisely. You can think of the feedback report as an overview of the main issues, and the direct comments as a way to highlight more specific issues, as well as support the broader ones by highlighting examples. Both will give detailed suggestions of how and what to develop, remove or rewrite so that the story will be stronger in the next draft, ahead of the second stage of editing.

This feedback will be extensive and actionable on its own, but it is most effective alongside my line editing service.

View my structural editing samples HERE, but please be aware that only projects that have already been published or publicised are included. Many more are forthcoming.

(Sometimes called heavy copyediting and stylistic editing.)

After feedback from the structural edit has been taken in, I will revisit the manuscript on a line-by-line level to address the way it is written/how the story is told. I will check in on some of the same elements as before, while adopting a more stylistic approach.

Additional focus points may include:

• ambiguities
• anachronisms
• clichés
• descriptions
• dialogue
• digressions
• flow
• inconsistencies (in characterisation, narrative style, pacing, setting, tone, viewpoint, etc.)
• passivity
• redundancies
• rhythm and rhyme
• sense
• telling vs showing
• verbosity
• word choice

I will flag awkward and overly complex syntax, and weed out repetition and tense switches. I’m also a stickler for good transitions between chapters and scenes.

If the structural edit is a story-level edit, this is the sentence-level one, where I tighten, clarify and improve the effectiveness and readability of that storytelling. I may provide another feedback report if necessary for recurring issues, but it would be much shorter. As this is the editing level that provides the closest text correction, the majority of the work will be on the manuscript itself, in the form of comments and Track Changes. I will make suggestions as well as deleting, moving or rewriting parts myself. These edits can then be accepted or rejected.

View my line editing samples HERE, but please be aware that only projects that have already been published or publicised are included. Many more are forthcoming.

(Sometimes called line editing, because both are sentence-level edits. However, line editing is stylistic whereas copyediting is technical. This service is for manuscripts that do not require any more big-picture revisions.)

I will comb your manuscript for errors, correcting spelling and grammar, and optimising punctuation to assist pacing and clarify meaning. I will standardise the language and style according to genre, time period or other parameters, such as a house, series and/or industry style guide.

To a lesser degree than in line editing, I will also fix inconsistencies in character, location, logic, terminology and timeline, as well as poor word choice, repetition and verbosity.

I will fact check to the best of my ability and apply standard document formatting for:

• chapter sequencing
• chapter and scene breaks
• dialogue tagging
• indentation
• spacing

This edit takes place entirely via Track Changes in the manuscript. I will also record my editorial decisions in a separate document that I create or as add-ons to one that you provide.

View my copyediting samples HERE, but please be aware that only projects that have already been published or publicised are included. Many more are forthcoming.

I will conduct the final quality-control check of your manuscript, polishing what has previously been honed.

I will catch any lingering micro errors, such as:

• typos
• misspellings
• grammar and punctuation mistakes
• missing or erroneous spaces

This edit is best done after typesetting so that I can also catch layout issues introduced at design level. These can include poor text fit and the inconsistent use of fonts and paragraph styles, as well as incorrect or missing :

• headings
• indents
• line spaces
• page and chapter numbers
• text

View my proofreading samples HERE, but please be aware that only projects that have already been published or publicised are included. Many more are forthcoming.

Alternately, do you need someone to write a book for you? Perhaps you have an idea you’d like brought to life, a classic you’d like simplified or a show you’d like novelised. Whatever the project, I’d be happy to discuss it.

View my writing samples HERE, but please be aware that only projects that have already been published or publicised are included. Many more are forthcoming.